BATON ROUGE — More victims are speaking out to UWK, saying they were lured into dirt bike sale setups by Markle Burris Jr. on Facebook Marketplace months before his arrest in connection with an attempted robbery and deadly shooting.
“They knew who he was … and that he had done it before”
One of the incidents happened in February. The victim in the case asked not to be named. He claims that he and Burris exchanged messages on Facebook about a dirt bike for sale, but the account Burris allegedly used turned out to be fake.
“We were talking about riding dirt bikes and about the best places to go trail riding. We talked for probably, in total, an hour before I went over there,” the alleged victim told UWK.
The two agreed to meet at Howell Park, where Burris told the buyer there would be a park ranger present to ease any concerns. But the victim’s wife had a bad feeling.
“Before he walked out the door, I said, ‘I just have a terrible feeling. I think you’re about to get shot,'” she said.
MORE: Dirt Bike Sale Set-Up on Facebook Turns Deadly
When the victim and a friend arrived at the park, Burris redirected them to meet near an apartment complex around the corner. Things seemed fine until Burris allegedly asked to test ride the bike.
“I said, ‘You can ride it wherever you want if you let me hold the money,'” the victim said. “He started acting all weird. Then his buddy came from around the corner with an (assault rifle) and pointed it at me and my friend.”
Burris reportedly got away with the bike, and the victim filed a police report. Soon, they saw their stolen bike listed for sale again on Facebook. That’s when he and his wife began investigating on their own. They started digging into the person who posted the listing, found their other social media accounts, and figured out where the bike was and who had it.
They gave all of the information they found, including addresses, to investigators.
“The the cops really wouldn’t do anything about it,” he said. “Me and my buddy even did a drive-by by Markle’s house. There’s a body shop right behind his house. We contacted the owner of the body shop, and he said that he had seen Markle on my bike riding down the street.”
The victim said he and his friend were also brought into the police department to see if they could identify the suspect in a photo lineup. “We both picked the guy out with 100% certainty, and they knew who he was, and they knew that he had done it before,” he said.
The couple eventually tracked the dirt bike to a house in Port Allen. The victim called the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and told them the whole story. “They drove over there and told me about 20 minutes later that they recovered it,” he explained.
He said the thieves allegedly did about $4,000 of damage to the bike.
Since the news of Markle’s arrest, the victim said he’s been contacted by investigators. His wife said the way this most recent incident ended is heartbreaking.
“I was sad that somebody lost their life,” she said. “That was heartbreaking, and I hate that it came down to that.”
This couple claims that they know of at least three other instances involving Burris attempting to rob people.
‘This is not his first time doing this’
Dani Gartman and her boyfriend also claim to have had a frightening encounter with Burris earlier this spring. She said her boyfriend listed his dirt bike on Facebook Marketplace and Burris, allegedly using a fake account, reached out to buy it.
They agreed to meet in Baton Rouge, but Burris changed the meeting spot at the last minute. They claim he directed them to his aunt’s apartment complex. Gartman, her boyfriend, and his young son arrived for the sale. They say Burris chatted casually about the bike, then they claim he asked if they were carrying weapons.
“The whole time I’m like, ‘Man, something’s not right,'” Gartman said.
Eventually, Burris asked if he could test drive the bike, and her boyfriend asked him if he could see the money. “He said ‘Oh, I got it on my bed,'” Gartman said. But she says that Burris also had a bag with him.
“When he opened the bag, he pulled out the gun with a switch on it, that makes it an automatic.” She claims that Burris also put a bandana or mask on once he pulled the gun out, despite them already seeing his face.
Gartman said she told her boyfriend to step away and let him take the bike. ”
A woman who lives in one of the upstairs apartments saw what was happening and woke her husband up, because the scene was playing out next to their car. Gartman said he came out and started yelling for them to leave.
She said in all of the chaos, Burris allegedly chambered his gun and didn’t notice. “One of the bullets flew out the gun, and I guess he never noticed,” she said. “When he left, my boyfriend’s son noticed the bullet flew out. So he grabbed it with his shirt and put on the back of the truck. The cops have the bullet, too.”
Burris allegedly got away with the bike, and Gartman and her boyfriend called the police, who came and took statements. All three of them later went to the police department and identified Burris from a lineup.
“When the detective called my boyfriend, he said, ‘By your description, we know who (he) already is. This is not his first time doing this,'” she said.
Gartman said she found out about Buriss’ recent arrest on social media. “He shouldn’t have had a gun in the first place, and shouldn’t have been robbing people. That is the whole situation,” she said. “He shouldn’t have been robbing anybody. He knew what he was doing.”
Gartman’s boyfriend hasn’t gotten his dirt bike back and doesn’t expect that he will.
The Baton Rouge Police Department, like many law enforcement agencies in the area, provides a designated Safe Exchange Zone for in-person meetups related to online sales. These zones are typically monitored by 24-hour video surveillance to help ensure safety.
Baton Rouge’s Safe Exchange Zone is located at BRPD Headquarters, 9000 Airline Highway.
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